[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 88 (Thursday, May 25, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7529-S7530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  SENATE RESOLUTION 125--HONORING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF FATHER JOSEPH 
                           DAMIEN DE VEUSTER

  Mr. AKAKA (for himself, Mr. Inouye, Mr. Daschle, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. 
Simon, and Mr. Murkowski) submitted the following resolution; which was 
considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 125

       Whereas Father Joseph Damien de Veuster was born in 
     Tremeloo, Belgium, on January 3, 1840;
       Whereas Father Damien entered the Sacred Hearts Order at 
     Louvain, Belgium, as a postulant in January 1859 and took his 
     final vows in Paris on October 7, 1860;
       Whereas, after arriving in Honolulu on March 19, 1864, to 
     join the Sacred Hearts Mission in Hawaii, Father Damien was 
     ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of Our Lady of 
     Peace on May 21, 1864;
       Whereas Father Damien was sent to the Puna, Kohala, and 
     Hamakua districts on the island of Hawaii, where Father 
     Damien served people in isolated communities for 9 years;
       Whereas the alarming spread of Hansen's disease, also known 
     as leprosy, for which there was no known cure, prompted the 
     Hawaiian Legislature to pass an Act to Prevent the Spread of 
     Leprosy in 1865;
       Whereas the Act required segregating those afflicted with 
     leprosy to the isolated peninsula of Kalaupapa, Molokai, 
     where those afflicted by leprosy were virtually imprisoned by 
     steep cliffs and open seas;
       Whereas those afflicted by leprosy were forced to separate 
     from their families, had meager medical care and supplies, 
     and had poor living and social conditions;
       Whereas in July 1872, Father Damien wrote to the Father 
     General that many of his parishioners had been sent to the 
     settlement on Molokai and lamented that he should join them;
       Whereas on May 12, 1873, Father Damien petitioned Bishop 
     Maigret, having received a request earlier for a resident 
     priest at Kalaupapa, to allow Father Damien to stay on 
     Molokai and devote his life to leprosy patients;
       Whereas for 16 years, from 1873 to 1889, Father Damien 
     labored to bring material and spiritual comfort to the 
     leprosy patients of Kalaupapa, building chapels, water 
     cisterns, and boys and girls homes;
       Whereas on April 15, 1889, at the age of 49, Father Damien 
     died of leprosy contracted a few years earlier;
       Whereas the Roman Catholic Church began the consideration 
     of beatification of Father Damien in February 1955, and 
     Father Damien will be beatified on June 4, 1995, by Pope John 
     Paul II in Brussels, Belgium;
       Whereas Father Damien was selected by the State of Hawaii 
     in 1965 as 1 of the distinguished citizens of the State
      whose statue would be installed in Statuary Hall in the 
     United States Capitol;
       Whereas the life of Father Damien continues to be a 
     profound example of selfless devotion to others and remains 
     an inspiration for all mankind;
       Whereas common use of sulfone drugs in the 1940's removed 
     the dreaded sentence of disfigurement and death imposed by 
     leprosy, and the 1969 repeal of the isolation law allowed 
     greater mobility for former Hansen's disease patients;
       Whereas in the mid-1970's, the community of former leprosy 
     patients at Molokai recommended the establishment of a United 
     States National Park at Kalaupapa, out of a strong sense of 
     stewardship of the legacy left by Father Damien and the rich 
     history of Kalaupapa;
       Whereas the Kalaupapa National Historical Park was 
     established in 1980 with a provision that former Hansen's 
     disease patients may remain in the park as long as they wish; 
     and
       Whereas the remaining patients at Kalaupapa, many of whom 
     were exiled as children or young adults and who have endured 
     immeasurable hardships and untold sorrows, are a special 
     legacy for America, exemplifying the dignity and strength of 
     the human spirit: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate of the United States recognizes 
     Father Damien for his service to humanity and takes this 
     occasion to--
       (1) celebrate achievements of modern medicine in combating 
     the once-dreaded leprosy disease; [[Page S7530]] 
       (2) remember that victims of leprosy still suffer social 
     banishment in many parts of the world; and
       (3) honor the people of Kalaupapa as a living American 
     legacy of human spirit and dignity.
     

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